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Everyone sorted themselves into various vehicles and caravaned the dozen blocks or so north to Hospital Hill as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Light, artificial and welcoming, greeted them at the ER entrance. Cars were quickly unpacked of supplies and the brightly lit waiting room of the ER was quickly converted into an impromptu camping ground. The hallways they could see down from the ER were more dimly lit, usually only one in three of the large overhead florescent lights shining, but they still dispelled the deeper shadows. Without someone on the other side or a staff badge to open the lock, the actual ER was closed to them while the power was still going. The large building was quiet, silent except for the humming power of the generators. If anyone was here, they weren't in the ER.
,,
Krystal's pot roast was plugged in to keep it warm, while eating supplies were raided from the small coffee-and-microwave kiosk. Dinner was served in Styrofoam bowls with plastic sporks; the normalcy and comfort of eating lapsed them all into quiet conversation, mostly rounds of introductions. The four animals had taken their leave of their humans briefly once they'd arrived, but quickly returned for their own shares in dinner. Tulpa laid down just outside of the automatic door sensor once his belly was full; Resa made a careful approach to him and eventually curled up just a few inches from him, joining him in watching the outside with a wary eye. Fraz stuck close to Krystal, but he watched the doors inside with the same alertness as the other two. Only Sheba seemed unconcerned, eating her dinner and then settling in next to Kylie for a nap.
,,
Khris broke the quiet conversation, addressing the group as a whole. "So....I need to make a raid on the pharmacy and see if they have my meds in stock. Anyone else here need meds of some kind? Insulin? My stuff is just pills, but if anyone needs stuff that's refrigerated or something, we'll need to figure that out." She glanced over at the closed set of doors that led further into the hospital. "And, um, I'd really like to not go alone. I'll wait until morning if no one wants to go with me right now - I've got enough meds right now to last a couple of weeks - but I really don't want to deal with this if it's long term on top of my own crazy."
,,
At Eric's startled look and slight lean away from her, she clarified, "I'm bipolar, mostly depressive, not manic very often. And I have PTSD and social anxiety, not that I think those two are really going to come up much anymore if most the world's gone poof. I'm not dangerous-crazy, I'll just get maudlin and bitchy if I run out of my meds." She tilted her head in thought and added, "Unless magic-makeover here cured my brain chemistry, but I don't think I'm quite that lucky or the gods are quite that nice, so I'm still banking that my head's still a bit off."
,,
She stood up and started to throw away her bowl and spork, then thought better of it and cleaned them both off with a napkin before setting them on her suitcase. She turned back to them and shrugged, motioning towards the interior of the hospital, "So, any volunteers?"

April 4, 2013 / Day 1
Kyrstal
The portfolio strap dug into Krystal's shoulder, heavy with the weight of vellum paper and hours upon hours spent at the drawing desk or easel. The marbled hallway echoed back a dozen conversations from other students as she made her way to studio 15; she had projects due by the end of open studio today and that meant less than a half-hour to get them turned in. Not that Tricia, her Advanced Art Seminar advisor, usually kept to strict timelines, but still, better to get them turned early than late. Slipping into the studio, the sounds fell away to the whisper of pencils and charcoal on canvas. A few fellow artists looked up when she came in, their expressions ranging from friendly smiles to jealous glances when they recognized the young rising star artist.
Tricia straightened up when she came in, giving the student she’d been speaking with a pat on the shoulder before winding her way through the room to Krystal. The older woman tucked a stray strand of greying hair behind her ear and gave her a quick hug. “Krystal! You’ve been scarce the past week. Is everything okay?”
“Fine, Tricia,” Krystal hugged her back and returned the smile. “Sorry, I’ve just been busy with deadlines. But! I wanted to make sure I got these to you on time.” She slung off the portfolio and held it out to her advisor.
Tricia’s eyes widened in pleasure, taking the portfolio and quickly snapping open the latch. She held it open, fingers still nimble despite the many years of art and teaching behind her rifling through the nearly two dozen drawings carefully settled inside. Krystal glanced down, a small smile of pride sneaking onto her lips as she remembered working on each one until they were ready.
The portfolio slipped, falling to the floor and blooming open, the drawings in the center waffling for a moment before falling one direction or the other. Krystal gasped and looked up to make sure Tricia was okay, but she wasn’t there. A strange staccato echoed after the fall of the portfolio, drawing her attention to the rest of the room. Pencils and charcoal were clattering against easel legs, saw horses, and tile floor. There was no one else in the room.
,,
Helena
“I just think you should consider it,” her mother pressed, sipping at her coffee and sitting primly on the white pin-stripe chair across from her daughter.
Helena sighed and shifted on the couch in annoyance. The coffee was great, as usual, but the conversation was getting tiresome and repetitive. Her father had already abandoned the conversation on the pretext of making a run to the store for dinner provisions.
“Mother,” she said, trying to keep her tone light, “counseling isn’t going to help. Ben wants something else, someone else, as a wife. We’ve grown apart.” She settled back against the plush cushion and tried to enjoy the delicate aroma of the coffee and arched a brow at her mother over the rim of her cup. “As his affair rather indicated. He’s just hasn’t accepted it yet.”
“Lena, darling, men make dumb decisions when faced with a young, pretty face,” her mother waved away Helena’s retort. “He made a mistake and you punished him for it. Now he’s trying to make up for it, if you’d just let him. He came back to you.” She clucked her tongue, “Really, dear, you should learn how to be more forgiving. However will you handle when your children disappoint you if you cannot learn how to let go?” The same arched brow, three dozen years more practiced, mirrored Helena from across the sitting room.
,,
The two women set their cups down on their saucers at the same time, far too similar in some ways to actually see eye to eye. Helena looked up from the coffee table to find herself alone in the room.
,,
Adam
The day had been a slow blur. He’d found bits and pieces – a name here, clothes there, and of course, there was Tulpa. The large dog walked obediently beside him, a comforting companion as he tried to fit the pieces together into something coherent.
,,
He’d spent the first couple of hours in the apartment, hoping it really was his apartment. The dog had startled him, but he seemed friendly and he followed Adam around like…well, like man’s best friend. The name had been on the collar, along with the address of the apartment. After the sixth or tenth round of walking the rooms, Tulpa made his decision on what to do next by pawing at the door and whining to go out. He’d grabbed the leash and doggie bags on pure instinct, but it buoyed his spirits that the apartment was his. It took another twenty minutes to find the keys, but still.
,,
Outside, it was bright and warm and slightly breezy. Tulpa trotted close beside him and wagged his tail, walking his human instead of the other way around. Once he’d concluded his business and the doggie bag had been deposited in a trashcan, they continued to meander through the apartment complex and then out into the general neighborhood. Yards and sidewalks were mostly empty, only the occasional car passing on the street.
,,
He’d been hoping for someone to talk to, someone that recognized him or felt familiar. As nice as the sunshine was, the quiet afternoon was becoming more frustrating than pleasant. Tulpa barked suddenly as the minivan coming down the street failed to turn with the bend in the road. It bumped over the gutter, ran over a suburban lawn, and smashed into the front wall of the small blue house he’d passed just half a minute before.
Kylie
The office smelled of magazines and waiting people; it was a familiar smell, the smell of waiting rooms across the world. She’d already checked in and gotten her shot and was sitting in the semi-comfortable chairs, passing the twenty-minute wait checking her email and picking out a couple of recipes to buy ingredients for making during the week. A Whole Foods run, a stop by JoAnn’s for the fabric to finish out the skirt she was working on, and then home again.
She smiled and told the tablet to compile the shopping list from the recipes; happy she’d actually gotten the dishes done last night and did a little straightening before heading out that morning. Coming home to a clean house and before sunset on an errand day was an accomplishment all on its own. The timer on the tablet chimed at her and she slipped it back into her purse, rising from the chair and making her way back to the nurses’ desk.
None of the nurses were there, and she sighed in a moment of annoyance. Usually at least one nurse was out here; all she needed was for someone to check the injection spot and confirm that she wasn’t about to explode from an allergic reaction to the allergy meds. She tapped her finger on the desk, trying to see where the nurses had gone to. She glanced over to the paperwork desk, but no one was there either. Maybe there was some staff meeting?
,,
She glanced around the room, but she was the only patient left. Frowning, she leaned over the desk and called out, “Um, nurse?”
No one answered. The clock on the wall ticked loudly in the silence.
Tejah
He was babbling on again, something about trade tariffs and export laws. Not that he was really explaining what those meant, just complaining about how they cut into his profit margins. The complaints meandered into the strange smell of the American airport and the cramps from the long plane trip. He murmured to her that the hotel wasn’t far away and there was plenty of time before they’d be having dinner with his American clients.
Tejah smiled prettily, acting just the right amount of interested and airheaded to make him happy. People were staring. They always did, but this time it wasn’t just at her breasts or ass. Mostly it was at her hair. And the clothes, of course. Not many “sailors” at the airport, and she certainly wasn’t wearing a regulation outfit. Or have bright pink hair. She saw one woman cover the eyes of her little boy and flush in either embarrassment or anger.
,,
Tejah didn’t frown, but she did pull closer to her husband. He smiled, sure she was excited to get to the hotel and be everything he’d trained her to be. He slipped an arm around her, his hand brushing low down her back and his fingers playing idly with the large bow sewn on the back of the outfit. The mother wasn’t staring at Tejah anymore and her flush took on the bright red of flustered indignation. She had leaned out of the check-in line, and seemed about to say something as they passed.
,,
Then she vanished. Tejah had been staring directly at her, tense at the impending snit between the disapproving mother and her husband, who certainly couldn’t care less about some foreign woman’s offended morals. And she, the child, and the husband Tejah had been clinging to just vanished. She looked around, turning to see everything around her in the concourse – everyone was gone.
,,
A flash of sunlight on metal caught her eye beyond the glass walls of the gate she was standing next to and a moment later the floor rattle beneath her boots.
,,
Mathis
He’d arrived hours ago with a long layover before his flight home to New York that evening. He was tired, and as fun as Thailand had been, it was nice to be back in a place where he knew the local language and where he didn’t have to watch himself around one of his firm’s big clients. Right now, the booth at the airport Applebee’s, the cheap beer, and the mediocre food was a small slice of heaven.
,,
The news was running on the TV over the bar; he’d been catching up on recent events and flirting with the waitress when she’d wander by. He checked his watch: still two hours to go before he needed to be at his gate. He looked back up at the news, hoping the segment on the purchase of Sprint Nextel was coming up soon. He frowned at the screen. All the ribbons with financials and teaser texts were still running, but there wasn’t a talking head to go with the inset picture of a large office building.
,,
The inset flipped over to picture of a middle-aged man, text appearing underneath it to identify him as Nevil Calbrit, whoever that was. Still no anchor. He glanced around the restaurant to see if anyone else was seeing this, too. Plates and cups and food were sitting abandoned at tables and the bartender was missing. He glanced at the other TVs he could see, two showing reruns of soap operas and another running a baseball game. Except there was only one outfielder left to play the game and a handful of fans spotting the stands. The outfielder was staring around the stadium, then fell to his knees and began to pray.
,,
The silverware rattled on the tables and Mathis felt a rumble through the seat of the booth.
,,
Lily
Airplanes were great, but airports were a bitch. It was hurry up and wait from this line to that one, even with the electronic tickets and check in. Open the suitcase. Take off your shoes. That’s too big to be a carry-on, miss. You’ll have to check it. Yes, we’ll be careful with it, miss.
,,
After she’d run through all the mazes and done a few turns on the treadmill, she visited the water bottle and bought herself an orange juice to drink during the half hour before she and the rest of the mice could board the plane. She put in her earbuds for her iPod and dialed up a shuffle list of songs, settling back and grinning, thinking about Los Angeles and finally, finally, getting a good break.
,,
After a half-dozen songs she pulled out the buds and sat up, expecting people to have already creeped up into an impatient line to board. The boarding gate was empty. Shit. Shitshitshitshit. Had she missed the plane? Had she really missed the damn plane?!?
,,
She jumped up, scrambling over to the floor-to-ceiling window wall that looked out on the tarmac. A deep sigh of relief went through her when she saw the plane still sitting at the gate. There was still time! She looked around, trying to find an airport employee or a steward or someone that could take her ticket and put her on the plane.
,,
Movement caught her eye out the window and she stumbled to the floor to the ground as a plane slammed into the runway behind the boarding and taxi area.

Name: Kylie Kendrick Gender: Female Height: 5 8" Weight: Hard to pinpoint, but easily 350+ lbs. Eye Color: Golden-Brown Skin Color: Caucasian (Pale) Ethnicity: Irish/Polish/German/Random European Cocktail Nationality: American Accent: Midwestern (with just a slight twist towards Southern) Age: 31 Eruption Date: N/A Appearance: Kylie is in her early thirties, and is what's generally known in certain circles as a BBW - a big, beautiful woman. She's the kind of girl who would probably be a knockout with an hourglass figure, if she could only lose, oh.. a couple hundred pounds. Despite that, she tries her best to dress stylishly, favoring longer skirts, dressy blouses with fun, often colorful designs, and large, dangly earrings. Her hair is cut in a stylish bob, naturally brunette but usually with chunky highlights - blonde, at the moment. She is rarely without a smile, and has a generally cheerful disposition. Known skills/abilities: An interior designer by trade, and an artist by hobby. She's also known to her friends and family as a "people person", and is great at connecting, interacting, and empathizing with people of almost any personality, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. History: Kylie is a Kansas City native. Raised as an only child, she actually has a large extended family, full of aunts, a few uncles, several half-siblings, and an obscene amount of nieces and nephews for someone raised as an only child. She's incredibly close to her mother, and feels a deep loyalty to the woman who worked herself to the bone to raise her as a single mom. She also has a good relationship with her father, though she's not nearly as close to the rest of her paternal family, since she wasn't raised with them and they have very little in common. She was an artistically talented child, set on a career in animation through her childhood and teen years. But as the cartoon industry became more and more dependent upon CGI, Kylie found herself less interested in that career path, and spent a few years adrift, trying a few college classes here and there, and working unpleasant customer service jobs that made her miserable. ,,Finally, around her mid-twenties, she decided she had to pursue something that would make her happy, and with the encouragement of her family, friends, and her live-in boyfriend David, she tried her hand at college again. This time, she went about it a bit more methodically - taking a personality and skill assessment test that suggested she consider a career in architecture or interior design - something she'd never really considered before. She decided to take a semester's worth of design courses, and was immediately hooked - she had finally found her new passion. ,,College took a few years to get through even though it was only an associates degree, since she had to work to support herself. Her relationship with David came to an amicable end during her final year of it once they realized they had different desires for the future. She found an internship selling furniture at a major department store, and found she enjoyed the job enough to stick with it for awhile, even though it wasn't serious design work - the pay was good, and she needed the health benefits. She settled into a comfortable routine of friends, family, and work - knowing she should do more to care for herself, wanting to lose weight so she could find a new boyfriend and settle down into the family life David hadn't been interested in, but too busy in life and resentful of the need to work at it to really want to do much about it. ,,Kylie also has an incredibly extended network of friends that are very dear to her, including her best friend since fourth grade, Angelina, who lives in St. Louis, and her other best friend since high school, Khris, who lives nearby in the suburbs of Kansas. She considers the two of them to be like sisters, and was incredibly relieved to find Khris after all the crazy disappearances - indeed, having someone she loves nearby that she feels responsible for is probably the only thing keeping her sane at the moment. ,,Kylie is an artsy nerd - her friends are the freaks and the geeks, and she's happy to be a part of that society. She plays role-playing games, reads fantasy and sci-fi books, and loves art museums, burlesque shows, Renaissance festivals, and gaming conventions. She listens to almost every type of music, loves to sing karaoke, dreams of starring in community theatre, and used to enjoy playing instruments, though it's been a very long time since she's been proficient at any of them. She's also pagan, and proud of it. A practicing witch since her teenage years, she's seen her share of strange occurrences, and has an oddly pragmatic view of magic and divine spirituality, often claiming that to her, all religions are just 'paths the the same destination'. She's inherently at ease about her faith - laughing off people's cautious confusion about what spells are, calling them 'prayers with props', and has a way of normalizing the unusual religion, making people feel a little silly for thinking of it as something too far 'out there'. She's certainly a much more urban, hip version of a 'witch' than most people would expect from visiting their local new-age store, and she answers questions with a casual ease that takes most nay-sayers off-guard.. a carefully honed 'offensive-defense' developed during her conversion to paganism while in the midst of a five-year stint at a highly dogmatic private Christian school. ,,She also has two cats, Sheba and Resa, both sisters from the same litter that are getting up in years - she's had them since she was about seventeen. Both are typically tabby cats - Resa is black and grey striped, cool and aloof and generally only affectionate towards Kylie, or people very close to her. Sheba is a brown, black and beige tortoiseshell calico, and a total attention slut that will happily seek out pettings from anyone willing to give them, once she gets over her initial fear of the stranger - something that typically takes all of about ten minutes. The two cats get along far better than most felines - they rarely fight, and are often seen curled up near or next to each other for naps (preferably close to Kylie), or even grooming each other. ,,Kylie is currently living in the neighborhood she grew up in, in an older, rougher, more ethnically diverse part of Kansas City called 'Northeast'. It doesn't phase her much, it's more a poor neighborhood than a bad one, though the occasional gunshots aren't unexpected, and she's never surprised to hear about her neighborhood on the news. She loves her city, though, and knows most of it like the back of her hand. She's living in the other half of her mother's duplex at the moment, and saving up for a nice downpayment on a home in a better part of town - or at least she was, before almost everyone off the face of the earth disappeared. ,,

Name: Tejah Ebadi Gender: Female Height: 5’7” Weight: 140 pounds Date of Birth: September 28, 1994 Eruption Date: N/A Allegiance: Husband, Mohammed Ebadi Appearance: Young, athletic and pretty, Tejah is a mix of Middle Eastern and something else, presumably Caucasian. She doesn’t know her ancestry so she can’t say for sure. Her skin is a pale brown, and her features are a blend of two cultures. Known skills/abilities:
Tejah is good at being a wife. Her life has prepared her for little else. In the orphanage, she was given a basic schooling and taught how to be a good wife. At sixteen, Mohammed found her there and took her to be his wife. From there, she was groomed to be his partner, mostly in a sexual way. His other three wives were busy bearing him children and caring for his house; Tejah was there to care for his need for a young, nubile wife.
She has learned a few things from him, just by listening to him as he discusses business or engineering on the phone; sometimes, after sex, he will sometimes make small talk about his work. Aside from that, she has learned to appease his fetishes and demands. He has ordered her to do things that go against her religion and her comfort, but she has been an obedient wife. As such, she’s learned some things about style, disguise and other social activities to please him. History:
Tejah was left in an orphanage not long after her birth. She was taken in, given a name, and a minimal education. It wasn’t too bad; she learned about Allah and his prophet Mohammad, and if her childhood was boring, it was also secure. Sometimes she wanted to be adopted, but sometimes, she liked to dream of who her parents were.
At sixteen, a man came to the orphanage and took her away. He wasn’t adopting her, though; she was to be his wife. Tejah was sacred of him; he was older than her, had three wives already and she soon realized he wasn’t a devout Muslim. It soon became clear that she was there to serve his sexual pleasure and that was why she was put on birth control. His wives resented her; she was given pretty baubles and new clothing, and often went traveling with him on business while they took care of the house and the children. What they didn’t know is that while on the frequent trips, Tejah was required to play to whatever fantasy her husband might concoct, which often left her upset and embarrassed.
,,

Mathis McAstor Background:
False glory. That was an unfortunate secret of the McAstor family. Living in a veritable mansion - sold on the cheap from celebrity repossessions, a marriage between fashion designer Connor McAstor and socialite Patricia McAstor - a tepid arrangement packed with affairs, a mother who had none of the blue blood she claimed, and a man more and more riding on his company's fame rather than his own.
Mathis McAstor despised these truths, and resolved to succeed on his own merits. Managing an academic scholarship to get into Harvard, he proved a clever speaker and intelligent individual. He wound through graduations fast, and an impressed professor networked him into the plush arms of Brandenburg & Klarfeld Associates, a mid to upper class private legal firm specializing in criminal defense.
Mathis proved to be a rather effective and successful young private attorney, notably not just for a strong win-loss ratio, but a willingness to take on less affluent clients. Though the firm partners were less than comfortable with these arrangements, the overall appearance of egalitarian service ended up benefiting the firm.
And then, he defended a man accused of embezzlement, banker William Riley the Third. Mathis listened to his client's protestations of innocence, faced down the prosecution and smiled when the jury verdict came. Reasonable doubt had won the day. McAstor was offered a thank-you vacation through Eastern Asia, by a joyous client.
In all honesty, Mathis had had his doubts about the innocence of William Riley the Third, and under normal circumstances would have let his misgivings turn down the offer for him, but tired out from the case, looking for a break from the strain, he accepted. His expenses paid and shipped off to Tokyo, then Seoul, then Bangkok, Mathis had to admit the stress relief was impressive, if a bit dubious.
Then, arriving in the Kansas City international airport, the world changed everything, and such questions became... moot.
"Sheet" Concept: Lawyer caught up in the Vanishing.
Nature: Judge
,,
Attributes
Intelligence •••, Wits •••, Per ••
Strength ••, Dexterity ••, Stamina ••
Charisma •••, Manipulation •••• (Persuasive), Appearance •••
,,
Abilities
Academics ••• (Law)
Awareness •••
Bureaucracy •••
Etiquette ••
Investigation ••• (Interviews)
Perform ••• (Oration)
Rapport •••
Streetwise ••
Style ••
Subterfuge •••
,,
Backgrounds
Resources ••
[5 left to be spent]
,,
Other Stats
Willpower •••••
Initiative +5
Movement: [WALK 7m/RUN 14m/SPRINT 26m]
,,
BP Log 4 skill dots - 8
2 Willpower dots - 4
3 Specialties - 3

Name: Krystal Johansson
Concept: Graphic Novelist
Nature: Architect/Survivor
Allegiance: Self (currently)
Theme:
HT: 157.5 cm / 5' 2"
WT: 53.5 kg/ 118 lbs
Hair: Deep Auburn
Eyes: Green
Age: 27
STR: 2 PER: 3 APP: 4 [Stunning]
Brawl: 0(2) Artillery: 0(3) Disguise: 0 (4)
Might: 0(2) Awareness: 1(4) Intimidation: 0 (4)
Throwing: 0(2) Investigation: 1(4) Style: 1 (5)
Kenning: 0(3)
Navigation: 0(3)
DEX: 3 INT: 3 MAN: 2
Archery: 0(3) Academics: 2(5) Diplomacy: 0(2)
Athletics: 1 [Dance](4) Analysis: 0(3) Hypnosis: 0(2)
Firearms: 0(3) Bureaucracy: 0(3) Interrogation: 0(2)
Gunnery: 0(3) Computer: 3(6) Seduction: 0(2)
Heavy Weapons: 0(3) Demolitions: 0(3) Streetwise: 0(2)
Legerdemain: 0(3) Engineering: 2 [Repair](5) Subterfuge: 0(2)
Martial Arts: 1(4) Gambling: 0(3)
Melee: 0(3) Intrusion: 0(3)
Pilot: 0(3) Linguistics: 0(3)
Ride: 0(3) Medicine: 0(3)
Stealth: 0(3) Science: 1(5)
Survival: 0(3)
Tradecraft: 0(3)
STA: 2 WIT: 4 [Creative] CHA: 3
Channeling: 0(2) Arts: 4 [Illustration](8) Animal Training: 0(3)
Endurance: 2(4) Biz: 2(5) Carousing: 0(3)
Resistance: 0(2) Drive: 1(5) Command: 0(3)
Meditation: 0(4) Etiquette: 0(3)
Modulate: 0(4) Instruction: 0(3)
Rapport: 1(5) Perform: 0(3)
Savvy: 0(4)
Shadowing: 0(4)
Tactics: 0(4)
Weave: 0(4)
Backgrounds
Menagerie: 3 (Fraz - large Akita/Malamute/Wolf mix)
Reputation (Comic Artist): 1
Resources: 3
Willpower: 6
Initiative: 7
Merits & Flaws
Low Pain Threshhold
Nightmares
Known Languages
Native: English
Others: None (Beyond using Google translate)
Movements
Walk: 5m, Run: 15m, Sprint: 29m
Soaks
Base Soak: 2B/1L
Healing Rate: Normal
Health Levels:
Unhurt (OK)
Bruised (OK)
Hurt (-1)
Injured (-1)
Wounded (-2)
Maimed (-3)
Crippled (-4)
Incapacitated
Dead
Bonus Points:
+2 Attributes (10bp), +3 Willpower (6bp), +3 Specialties (3bp),
Low Pain Threshold (+3bp), Nightmares (+1bp)
Menagerie 3 - Dog Companion - FRAZ
Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4, Perception 2
Abilities: Athletics 3(7), Awareness 3(5), Brawl 3(7), Endurance 2(5),
Might 2(6), Resistance 2(6), Stealth 2(6), Survival 2(4)
Willpower: 5
Health Levels: OK, OK, -1, -1, -2, -2, -3, -3, -4, Incapacitated
Attacks: Bite 5L, Claws 3L
Experience (100/100): Strength 4(16xp), Dexterity 4(16xp), Stamina 4(16xp),
Willpower 4-5(9xp), Survival 1-2(7xp), Brawl 3(6xp), Extra Bruised Level(3xp),
2 Extra Maimed Levels(3xp), Endurance 2(7xp), Might 2(7xp), Perception 2(10xp)
Name: Krystal Johansson Gender: Female Ethnic Background: Swedish, Irish, Germanic Nationality: American Age: 27 Height: 5'2'' Weight: 118 lbs Eyes: Green Hair: Deep Auburn Handedness: Left Description: Krystal is a gorgeous graduate student, short and slender, yet buxom. She has stunning green eyes that at times take on a blue or grey hue. Her silky hair is a deep auburn and hangs straight to her shoulder blades, though she has dyed it blond on several occasions. She usually dresses very casually, with loose, frayed jeans or cargo pants and a variety of oversized college sweaters, worn vintage or band shirts, and tank tops, but can dress up for business if required. She always has a number of pens and pencils on her, and a sketch pad covered in surprisingly detailed doodles.
She is often accompanied by her faithful friend, Fraz, short for Frazetta. Fraz is Krystal's beloved dog and possibly her best friend. She is a playful, well trained, and loyal mutt, an unusually huge and hardy - but not overweight or clumbsy - Akita-Malamute-Wolf crossbreed, with a few other bits rolled in. Krystal got her as a puppy three years ago when her previous dog, Fawkes, died. Protective of her mistress. Personality: Krystal is a vibrant and confident woman with a stubborn resolve to make her own way on her own merits and talents rather than her looks. She's been told more than once she could be a model - bikini and lingerie mainly, with her figure - but she has absolutely no interest in it and refuses to work in a field in which she could be compared to her mother. She works very hard and is very reluctant to accept any charity or help. Though when she first struck out on her own she had rough luck and a tough time and at time considered trading on her looks, finally things have begun going her way and she has made a career off her artwork.
Despite her mother telling her of their family's supposed psychic abilities and alien abductions, and meeting the rest of her mother's family back in the mid-west on several trips, Krystal thinks of all that supernatural stuff as pure hogwash - same with aliens. Much to her annoyance, she seems to be a weirdness magnet, and meets far more than her share of similar freaks, even for a place like Vegas.
Which is how she ended up meeting her long-term boyfriend.
She is quite devoted to her boyfriend of six years, Ian Goldberg, and cares for him deeply, despite his issues and belief in conspiracies and aliens. Lately, she has been dropping hints that she would like them to 'formalize' their commitment to each other. Her steadfastness has been a great boon to him as well.
In high-school, she was quite into cheerleading, gymnastics, and dancing, at least for a short while, before her breasts fully blossomed. Still, she stays active and long nights at work followed by homework then school the next day has helped her learn to push herself to her utmost limits.
She is a good student, and studies hard. Surprising to her, she actually enjoys her Occult Sciences and Myth and Symbols classes - she eyes the subject matter with a skeptical eye, but the occult and religious iconography give her great ideas for her artwork, and the history helps with her writing.
Many of her other studies also help her contribute details to her artwork. Due to her self-reliance, Krystal has also developed some definite skill maintaining and fixing things around the house. She even ended taking enough shop class electives to be more than halfway to an degree to develop them further and has a slew of _____ for Dummies books that she had practically memorized.
Krystal is a very gifted artist, with a love of the comic book medium, if not for superheroes. She prefers fantasy concepts and has a style somewhat reminiscent to Brom, Royo, and Frazetta, polished with digital techniques. Despite her intentions, many of her pieces end up darker than she had originally envisioned.
She was extremely disappointed that the graphic novel she spent a year slaving over - A Thousand Broken Dreams - and that she self-published, barely sold. It also meant that she couldn't afford to go to college out of state as she wanted, instead ending up going to a local community college.
Since puberty, Krystal has suffered terrible nightmares, indistinctly baroque, Lovecraftian, and spiritual, then leave her waking up sweaty and trembling. She blames it on all the fantastical bullshit her mother and family believes in and spoke about freely in front of her. Jolene believes her daughter is a Dreamer and Clairsentient, possibly even able to channel spirits. She tried taking medication for it, but it usually leaves her feeling worse than the nightmares, so she suffers privately as best she can. Background: Krystal was born to Jolene Johansson, a small town girl from Maine who ran away to Vegas with her boyfriend when she was fifteen. By sixteen, Jolene was pregnant and single, her boyfriend ditching her when he found her in bed with another man.
Krystal was born and raised in Las Vegas, her mother raising her by herself, working as a showgirl and stripper. Krystal grew up well aware of what her mother did, Jolene never hid what she did from her daughter. Krystal also knew that the men that her mother brought home for a few days or weeks, or rarely months, wasn't her father, or even a replacement for him. She never felt the need to find a replacement for him either.
Once Krystal was a little older, and Jolene was making a decent living dancing on various stages, they began to make regular visits back to Jolene's family in Maine. Her mother always enjoyed the visits, and her family never held anything against the lifestyle she chose. Krystal on the other hand, hated the small town after after the bright lights of Vegas, the cold, and their weird belief in the uncanny. The visits were never short enough for her.
When she was sixteen, Krystal moved out of her mother's home to find her own place. Though Jolene tried to convince her not to, Krystal was tired of her mother's beliefs and the way her boyfriends would look at her - Krystal also felt guilty about the one boyfriend of her mother's that she had slept with, even if Jared was closer to her age than her mother's, and she was sure her mother didn't know about it.
Krystal found a tiny studio apartment and paid her way waitressing and selling art commissions online. While finishing high-school, she slaved her nights away frenetically working on her graphic novel. A year later, A Thousand Broken Dreams was finished, Krystal had graduated high-school, and thought she'd be on her way to college in California.
Instead, her graphic novel flopped - she only managed to sell twenty-one copies, and seventeen of those were to family members and only one person bought it as a PDF. The money she lost self-publishing meant she couldn't afford to move out of state or the tuition, so she had to enroll in a local community college. Further, due to all the time she her graphic novel, she had lagged behind on her commissions, so even that as a source of income was drying up.
But she persevered, gaining her Bachelor of Arts degree, and even better making a name for herself with her artwork, through commissions and a webcomic she wrote and drew. After rewriting and redeveloping A Thousand Broken Dreams for a final year project, people took notice, and the Vertigo imprint of DC comics picked it up. As the sole writer and artist for the series, she makes a fair bit from it and associated merchandising.
Through work on other comics (mostly covers and mini-arcs) and networking at various Cons - she's very well received at ComiCon, though she's quite aware a part of that is her appearance - Krystal has landed several other projects. She's now the lead artist for the comic adaption of the Dresden files, and how done concept work for a number of movies and video games. Recently, she and Neil Gaiman developed an idea for a digitally released graphic novel that they will collaborate on.
After attending several Cons in Kansas City and surrounding areas, and talking to several Universities and colleges in the area, Krystal and Ian moved to Kansas City, buying an older house in the Brookside neighborhood. While working on her graphic novel series and other projects, Krystal is now working part-time on her Master of Fine Arts degree and a degree in Digital Animation at the Art Institute Internation - Kansas City. Too bad UMKC didn't have the program she wanted, it was only a few blocks away from her home on Walnut street..
With many comics moving to digital distribution, Krystal is looking to capitalize on the idea. Along with working toward making Graphic Novels a full-fledged format, rather than just a number of individual issues bound together, she is also looking at adding subtle animations, digital lighting and shading effects, links/pop-ups to additional content, audio and similar effects to take advantage of the digital format of comics. This is the main focus of the project she is developing with Neil Gaiman.
In addition, she's interested in the idea of developing an interactive novel/video game, in the image of Alan Wake.
It was a lot of hard work, but it has finally paid off. She's making a good living working in a field she loves, and is at the forefront of an emerging new way of blending visual art and storytelling. She has a boyfriend who likes sex every bit as much as she does, and if he came with some rough edges, she had made a good job of polishing them. She was even getting along better with her mother, now that they didn't live in the same city.
It's about all she wants and needs, and she doesn't intend on letting it go. A Thousand Broken Dreams: A lengthy graphic novel that Krystal wrote, penciled, and coloured all by herself. The novel is structured similarly to Pulp Fiction, with many interweaving plotlines and points of view. The setting is a noir-ish urban fantasy, with a mild retro-steampunk aesthetic that is very emotive and eye-catching. The tone is gothic and darkly cynical, despite what Krystal had intended, though one of the plot threads is very light-hearted and brightly coloured by contrast with the rest of the series.
Krystal keeps a battered, dog-eared copy of the original version with her, and is often surprised by some detail she didn't remember adding, while leafing through the pages. She doesn't remember drawing/writing half the things in the graphic novel... but she was very stressed by all the hard work she put into it, only to see it fail. Ian Goldberg: Ian used to be rude and condescending to women, treating them like baby-makers and didn't believe in the fidelity of people; they cant be trusted, best to not get attached to them. And the government is even worse, a morass of conspiracies and hiding the truth about aliens. But with the steadfastness of his girlfriend Krystal, and medication to ameliorate his paranoid delusions and bipolar disorder, he's gotten much better and is even happy. He has a hot girlfriend with the sweetest tits, an amazing dog, and a nice house in the suburbs (something he never imagined).
It's about all he wants and need, and he doesn't intend on letting go. He's bought a ring, and is working up the courage to ask Krystal to marry him.
Though he still maintains his AlienHunter.org site, he puts more effort in being an investigator for In The Shadows Securities and Investigations, LLC and being a freelance writer for the local paper, criticizing and reporting on City Hall and the government.
At the time of the Event, Ian was out of town for business. Krystal is very worried about him, especially if he can't get his meds - the mass disappearances will just feed his delusions. Fraz: An Akita-Malamute-Wolf crossbreed, with some other bits rolled in. Fraz is freakishly huge and hardy, yet still agile and not overweight, with a gleaming white, grey, and brown coat. Well trained and loyal, she is playful and friendly, yet fiercely protective of her mistress. Has in full the typical Akita fastidiousness. Initially standoffish towards other dogs, until she gets to know them
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Home: A nice three story home, nearly a century old, but well maintained and updated. It's a corner lot at Walnut St. and 61st St (This house, but on the corner, and somewhat different decor). Krystal converted the 3rd floor loft into her personal study/studio. The basement is still being finished - some of it painted, but the rest is at least is drywalled and mudded.

Just got us moved into the actual Games tab; everyone should have an invite. Please post up at least a general bio in the Character Roster thread. You don't have to put your character sheet there, but you can if you want to (easy reference).
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Also, I got out of town from August 13th through the 18th (Tuesday through Sunday) at GenCon. I will have internet access and my computer, but I make no promises on posting during that time.

Azure
(relaunch)
System: Aeon Universe
Setting: Modern Earth just after the disappearance of 99.9% of the human population.
Special Note: All characters must have their own log-in with the character name and avatar.
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The Set Up:
Characters will begin play just before the disappearance and play through the aftermath. All characters are normal humans, made on "baseline" Aberrant mechanics. You are allowed to play an avatar character (a version of yourself) in the game, but do note that this is a game and that conflict and setbacks are integral to compelling narratives. In other words, don't get upset when bad things happen. The character is not you. Characters will begin in Kansas City, Kansas; I don't care if your a resident or just passing through the international airport, just that your character is in the city at the start of game.
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The disappearance will occur on April 4, 2013, a 3:04 PM.
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Mechanics Notes:
While I'll be running this primarily out of the Aberrant books, I like aspects of Adventure and Trinity, so I'm allowing those as source books as well. I'll update here with any alterations or disallowances from the books as I go over things and as you guys bring me stuff that makes my head hurt .
XP costs in Azure will be done as desired rating instead of current rating. I'll be giving out xp monthly and by complete threads.
Supernatural Merits, Flaws, Skills, and Backgrounds are not allowed at this point, if that wasn't clear. Vanilla on the stats, please. Channel, Kenning, Modulate, and Weave are supernatural skills.
Please note skills as Skill Rank (Total Dice Pool) for each skill. This will help me be able to glance over character sheets quickly for any rolls I may need to make for you.
As the characters are 'baselines', they do not start with the 3 points in Endurance and Resistance, and they also follow the baseline rules for healing.
Backgrounds, at least, may be taken above 5, though not at character creation. I may extend this rule to skills and attributes as well. There is no 'power stat' being used to govern such things in the game, so we'll negotiated between ST and players as situations come up. I will always have a more favorable response to requests to go above five when there is solid role-playing and story reasons to allow such, and it does still represent higher than (at least thought) humanly possible skill or potential.
If you have a four in an Attribute, it should be a major point about your character - say a model with Appearance 4, a lawyer with Manipulation 4, or an bodybuilder with Strength 4. A 5, and I'll likely not allow a character with more than one, represents that you are one of a handful of people in the world with that level of realized potential - a world-recognized genius at Intelligence 5, a world-renowned ballerina at Dexterity (and possibly Stamina) 5, a world-class spy with any of Wits, Perception, or Charisma at 5. I don't mind impressive characters, just make sure that the backstory and the mechanics line up and are interesting.
Skills work the same way as Attributes. A 4 in a skill means that you are a leading professional in the field, while a 5 means that you are one of the handful of people currently defining the field. They're allowed, but they better be well-supported by your character's backstory.
Public vs. Private character sheets. Character sheets in the Signature are incredibly convenient, however I do want to have a PM sheet as well, as there may be parts of your sheet you or I don't want to be public knowledge.
While I'm allowing people to hang onto background points at the start of game, they must be spent by or at the end of the first plot thread (the opening story).
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Backgrounds in Azure:
Backgrounds in Azure will work somewhat like they do in all Aeon games, with the alterations listed below and the general rule that backgrounds that do not provide an immediate mechanical benefit (like Ally or Followers do) will provide advantages such as bonus dice or reduced difficulties in situations where the background applies. These situations are varied and subject to my discretion, so I'm not going to make a big laundry list of examples. The bolded words are the actual ones I'd like to see on character sheets.
Ally/Mentor: Want to make sure someone is still around after the event? Take them as an ally. Allies do begin with the standard 1 in all attributes, but are otherwise devoid of any points on their sheet. The first dot in allies grants 100 XP to spend on the ally, and each dot thereafter grants 50 additional XP. Ally dots for a single ally may go above 5, but do not ever grant more than 50 additional XP. (This will be monitored and may be altered during gameplay, as it is a new and untested mechanic.) Allies cannot purchase their own allies or followers.
Attunement: Not applicable at start of game.
Cipher: This represents multiple identities that you have created and maintained. Each point allows you to allocate a background point for that identity. All Ciphers must be bought separately and cannot share or "stack" points of Allies, Backing, Contacts, Influence, or Followers.
Citizenship: Not applicable at start of game.
Contacts: Each dot represents contacts in a general area, such as Hackers, Politicians, or Street Gangs. Don't worry about minor/major, it never really gets played and if you're wanting an individual, Ally is more appropriate.
Dormancy: Not applicable at start of game.
Favors: Not in use, because it's just too weird.
Followers: This is another way to bring people along with you or to show your ability to gather people to your side during game. Followers are far more generic and less powerful than allies, but you get more actual bodies for each dot you buy. Followers are built as level 1 allies but never gain additional XP; instead, each dot grants the new rating in new Followers (so 1 at 1 dot, 2 additional at 2 dots for a total of 3, etc). Follows cannot purchase their own allies or followers.
Devices/Gadget: Not applicable at start of game.
Menagerie: This is allies for animals. A base cost will be assigned to any animal a player requests for their character and I approve. Dots above that base cost grant the animal an additional 50 XP. Animals may not possess Backgrounds.
Nemesis: Not in use. You want to have pissed someone off, just write it into the story.
Node: Not applicable at start of game.
Reputation: Not in player control. Characters will be assigned reputation by me as appropriate through gameplay. Requests for reputation through background may be made at character creation, but must be supported by a strong background and are not guaranteed, nor must/may points be spent on Reputation.
Equipment/Resources: These two are paired together because after the event this will represent not a cash flow, but a character generally having on hand what they need to trade for other items or how easily they find useful items when scavenging. Resources will function in three different ways; one, when scavenging in urban and suburban areas, this replaces the survival skill; two, when trading, every third dot reduces the target number to succeed by one; three, I may call for a Resources roll to have on hand a critical piece of equipment in a scene.
Sanctum: Not applicable at start of game.
Backing/Rank/Status: This represents things like security clearances, rank in a military, or other such circumstances that would grant access to restricted areas or encourage those in your organization to follow your lead.
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Please submit characters as [Azure] Character Name to this ST account.
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Blank Character Sheet
Name:
Concept:
Nature:
Allegiance:
Theme:
HT: cm / ' "
WT: kg/ lbs
Hair:
Eyes:
Age:
STR: PER: APP:
Brawl: Artillery: Disguise:
Might: Awareness: Intimidation:
Throwing: Investigation: Style:
Navigation:
Kenning:
DEX: INT: MAN:
Archery: Academics: Command:
Athletics: Analysis: Interrogation:
Drive: Bureaucracy: Seduction:
Firearms: Computer: Streetwise:
Gunnery: Demolitions: Subterfuge:
Heavy Weapons: Engineering:
Legerdemain: Intrusion:
Martial Arts: Gambling:
Melee: Linguistics:
Pilot: Medicine:
Ride: Science:
Stealth: Survival:
Tradeskill:
STA: WIT: CHA:
Channel: Arts: Animal Training:
Endurance: Biz: Carousing:
Resistance: Mediation: Command:
Modulate: Etiquette:
Shadowing: Instruction:
Tactics: Perform:
Rapport:
Savvy:
Weave:
Backgrounds
Ally:
Cipher:
Citizenship:
Contacts:
Dormancy:
Followers:
Gadget:
Menagerie:
Node:
Reputation:
Resources:
Sanctum:
Status:
Willpower:
Initiative:
Merits & Flaws
Known Languages
Native:
Others:
Movements
Walk: m, Run: m, Sprint: m
Soaks
Base Soak:
Healing Rate:
Health Levels:
Unhurt
Bruised
Hurt
Injured
Wounded
Maimed
Crippled
Incapacitated
Dead
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Misc:
I'm not starting the game for a couple of weeks, in part because Jasmyne is very excited about playing in the game and just went on vacation, so I'm giving her time to get back and get her character together. Having character ties before the Event is mildly encouraged, though not required.
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I'm looking for between 5 and 8 characters, ideally. I won't run the game with less than five, but I am fine with going over eight, I might just split the players into two groups at that point.
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My caveat/warning, just to be fair: I am bipolar. I'm doing better and I seem to have found a stable combination of meds, but I may hit patches where I'm not posting much. I'll try to give heads-up if I'm head into a depressive swing, but part of the reason of switching around the formatting is so that if/when I do have down swings, you all still have interactions with each other that you can pursue and aren't left waiting on a gaggle of NPCs that are the only people your PC has to interact with.
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Please let me know if you're interested and any questions or concerns you have from the proposal. Thanks!